New Board of Elections director hired
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on December 21, 2007 1:45 PM
Wayne County's Board of Elections office has a new leader.
Hired earlier this week by the board, Vickie Reed of Carrollton, Ohio, will start on Jan. 2.
It is, said board Chairman Gene Riddle, the end of what has been a long process ever since Gary Sims left in September for Wake County.
"We took our time making the decision because it was such an important decision, not only for the county, but also for the us, the board," he said.
Also delaying the decision were the Goldsboro October primary, the November general election and the recounts for Goldsboro District 1 and the Southwestern Wayne Sanitary District.
"It's been a busy six weeks," Riddle said.
He emphasized, though, that during that period, the board members were pleased with the job Erin Burridge did filling in as interim director.
Ms. Burridge, who also serves as the geo-information systems technician, was a candidate for the position.
"We want to thank our interim director for all that she has done," Riddle said. "We could not have asked for a better job during that interim period."
But now, he continued, the board is pleased with its selection and believes that Ms. Reed will be a positive addition to the county's election team.
"The board was very impressed with her," he said, citing in particular, her experience.
For the last 11 years, Ms. Reed, 61, has worked as the Carroll County elections director.
Now she's looking forward to a new challenge and plans to immediately begin immersing herself in North Carolina's election laws and Wayne County's election processes as soon as she arrives.
"I have read the North Carolina election laws, but I want to be more familiar with those and what the operations are," she said.
For the most part, though, she continued, the basic rules and regulations are the same.
"They're fairly standard. You just have some different ways of doing things than we do," she said.
There also will be new equipment to adjust to, although she has used optical scan machines before.
Fortunately, being in the election business where adjustments in procedures and operations occur frequently, change is nothing new to her.
"I'm good at changes," she said.
She added that she was drawn to North Carolina because of her family.
"My daughter lives in the Raleigh-Durham area and has been there about eight years, and I don't have any other family in Carrollton, plus I love the beach and golfing," she said.
She will earn a base salary of $45,473.